Water wars

Israel's water supplies are diminishing and becoming so low that Shimon Tim, Israel's water minister reportedly is going to call for a total ban on watering lawns for the next 3 years.

Most of Israel's water is pumped from the ground and as levels drop, deeper sources of water are producing poorer quality drinking water. The growing population of Israel is creating the drain on water resources and tensions with Palestinians are complicating the problem.

Palestinians accuse Israel of keeping water from their settlements, though Israel insists it is not responsible for the shortages there. Israel largely controls the water resources, even for areas that are otherwise under Palestinian control.

The solution, experts say, is to develop new sources of freshwater. For practical purposes, that means desalination plants. In the meantime, Israel is going to get a bit browner.